Christmas Countdown {student style}

One of my favorite Christmas activities was a "12 days of Christmas" countdown that my family did for Pete and I one year. They gave us a big box full of small gifts with numbers on them and each day we got to open one of the presents. The gifts were so cute and creative, correlating well with the days of the week. For example, on Friday night we got popcorn and a movie, on Monday night we opened a talk from a General Authority and packets of hot chocolate (for FHE). It really made that childhood "magic" of Christmas come back into my somewhat adult life and ever since that Christmas, Pete and I have wanted to do it for someone else. When my friend Marie (who's hubby is in school with mine) told me about a similar idea she was doing for her husband--- a "4 Days of Finals" countdown---I couldn't help but catch the countdown bug and copy her :) 

This week was finals week, so each day for four days, I put a little gift/treat on Pete's desk...sometimes it would be there when he woke up in the morning, sometimes it made its appearance in the middle of the day...I had to keep him on his toes, ya know? All in all, it was super fun for me to surprise Pete with some of his favorite treats, and I hope it was a nice boost for him during a tough week.

Garden Lights, Holiday Nights

There are few things more magical than bunches of twinkling Christmas lights. 

We witnessed our first lights of the season at the Atlanta Botanical Garden and, for the first time this fall, I actually missed cold, winter weather. It would have been fun to bundle up in scarves, coats, and hats and see the lights amid the snow. As it was, we were nearly overdressed in our single layer, long-sleeve shirts. Don't get me wrong...I'm not complaining. Every morning before running I check the weather outside and the weather at home and I'm grateful that where I'm at, it's usually warm enough to run in a T-shirt (and it's December! This truly boggles my mind!). I'm growing more and more nervous about going west in a few days to a 20 degree temperature drop and what that's going to do to the great running routine I've got going. On the other hand, it will be nice to truly enjoy this hot chocolate season and maybe even a white Christmas :)

Hey Santa...

Emery meeting Santa for the first time:

First, she checks him out (or maybe she's just looking for some face in all that white fluff)

Then she looks at me wide-eyed as if to say, "Mom, who is this guy?"

Next, she looked at him again and that cute little hand (aka "iron gripper") went straight for the beard.

 Not sure if tugging Santa's beard is going to win her "nice" points down the road or not, 

but I guess we'll find out :) 

Too bad we didn't get a picture of that part.

In other news, the Ward Christmas Party (which I've been working on for the past few weeks) is now over and the only thing separating me from home are 5 days and a lot of cleaning and packing. 

Oh, and 2,222 miles. 

Gee, I'm far from home.

No-bakes

Call them cookies, gorilla poops, or a waste of good ingredients (to each their own, Grandpa B!), these gooey messes of chocolate are near and dear to my heart. Around our little Hoyt household, we simply call them no-bakes, because, quite honestly, they never make it to the "cookie" stage. Pete and I have whittled the recipe down to a perfect 2 servings---1/4 pinch of salt and all---and we simply mix 'em up and sit on the couch eating them out of the pan, with spoons. I associate these cookies with Peter because I don't think I've eaten them alone since being married. They go great with with pajamas, either laughter or tears, and always good chats.

I once calculated the cals on these things, but I'll save you from that information. My advice: use low-fat milk and reduced fat peanut butter if you like, but don't lighten up anything else. I've found if you focus on the gobs of oats you dump in, rather than all the sugar and fat, you can almost convince yourself that these are heart-healthy. Goodluck :)

No-bakes for Two
2 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. baking cocoa
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 pinch of salt (whatever that is)
2 Tbsp. peanut butter
3/4 cup oats

Mix first four ingredients over medium heat in saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, salt, and peanut butter. Mix in oats. Ingest. (Or you can drop them by spoonfuls onto wax paper and let them sit for a bit).

8 months

Dear Emery,

Today you are 8 months old! The past two months have gone by fast, and it seems you are learning and changing everyday. At 7-1/2 months, your dad noticed that you were getting a tooth! Since then, another one popped up and you are now working on your third. You gnaw on everything and drool everywhere. I'm amazed at how much drool comes out of your tiny little mouth. As far as your temperament goes, you've been a champ. I really haven't noticed a change in your fussiness or irritability level. Mainly, you continue to be a happy, fairly easy-going baby.

It's funny to think back to the days when you weren't eating well, because now you love to nurse and are making good progress on solids. You eat oatmeal every morning and in the evening have squash, green beans, or your new favorite: black beans. Sometimes I give you cold apple slices to gnaw and suck on and you really like that as well.

In the past two months, we've been two busy girls. Here's some of what we've been up to:

Running! You didn't like the new jogger stroller for a while, but now you do just fine in it on our daily runs. The picture below is you and your buddy, Ryker. He's about twice your age and seems twice your size. You guys are pretty cute together. We go running with him and his mom, Lindsay, nearly everyday. Having a running buddy has been very effective for me. On those days that I just don't feel like running, I usually get a text message like this from Lindsay: "How does a run sound?" and I usually say something like, "Terrible. I'll meet you outside in 10 minutes?" Thus we push each other...out of bed and out the door...up the hills and down the hills...all the while pushing you and Ryker. It's a good system we've got going.

City Adventures! We went to the world of Coca-Cola when your Uncle Tim was here. This was something I wasn't too excited about, since we don't drink Coke and I'm not too interested in soda in general. However, it was really fun to learn about how coke was invented (by a pharmacist in Atlanta) and see and taste all their many different soda and juice products from around the world. We also went to the Georgia Aquarium with Lindsay and Ryker and had a great time. You were really excited about the penguins (forgive the blurry penguin picture...I was holding you in one arm and trying to take pictures with the other).

Friends! Clara came over to play one day. She's exactly one week older than you and as the youngest baby in her family with three older brothers, she wasn't phased a bit by your poking and prodding of her. You had a fun time playing together.  Another day, we made dee-licious caramel apples with some of your dad's classmates: Jenny and Jackie. They had fun playing with you (and the caramel apples were to die for. I might have to make more before this autumn is over...just in the off chance that I don't live to see another caramel apple season. Because they were just that good. Recipe here).

At 8 months, you're trying really hard to scoot/crawl and I'm wishing really hard that you slept through the night (you usually wake up twice, sometimes once if I'm lucky). You weigh a little over 16 pounds and seem pretty short to me. Your feet are the tiniest little things...still in the 0-3 month shoe size. I've started buying you 6-9 month size clothing even though you fit perfectly into your 6 month clothes still. (I know these details are probably kind of boring, but they're things I want to be able to look back on and remember). You continue to be super cute and we continue to love you more and more as time goes on. Keep growing, little one.

Love,

Mom

Sweet Sunday

I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but I just LOVE Sundays. For Pete, Sundays are a great re-charger for an upcoming week of tests and studying. For me, Sundays are a special treat because I get to spend so much of the day with (a relatively stress-free) husband. Knowing that Sunday will come really helps me during the busy weeks, where it seems like time with Pete is minimal. Even Emery appreciates Sundays, where she usually gets out of taking one of her naps and gets lots of daddy time at church and at home. Basically, Sundays are all around good for the Hoyt household.

Yesterday was a particularly nice Sunday. Emery did well at church, and even slept for one of the hours. We really enjoyed the lessons and talks given (and I remembered to pack church snacks...which we all know makes church waaaaay better). After church, we had a visit from our awesome home teacher---always a good experience. Then, Emery and I had naps and we went on a little family walk at Stone Mountain Park. After coming home and putting Emery to sleep, we called our families back at home. I caught the Jensen kids and parents just as they were starting to carve pumpkins and got to talk to almost everyone for a little bit. Talking to my family always makes me homesick, but is a great way to end the day.

I'm surprised at how simple things can enrich life so much...

 ...like brownies from a neighbor,

or beautiful fall leaves.

Sweet family moments,

beautiful, hazy skies,

Or quiet, relaxing, sweet Sundays.

Atlanta Underground Market

Our neighbors recently told us about the Atlanta Underground Market. Their description sounded intriguing, so last month, Pete and I decided to try it out. We had so much fun! Here is the website's description of what it is:

While living in San Francisco I had so much fun going to the San Francisco and Oakland Underground Markets and sampling all the delicious foods prepared by people in their private kitchens, that I felt I had no choice but to start one in Atlanta 

There are a lot of home cooks and food artisans in Atlanta,  who have awesome dishes to share, but who don't have the platform to do so outside of their circle of friends. And we're not talking your average fried chicken or hot dogs, but real gourmet slow food, that you may not be able to get anywhere else, whether meat centric dishes, vegetarian or vegan food. 

This being a private club gives the vendors the opportunity to share their dishes, and it gives members the chance to taste concoctions that they may otherwise never have had the opportunity to do. It's an incubator for new food talent.

In order to go, you have to sign up on the website and sign a waiver saying you know that the food may have been prepared in a place not inspected by the health department (Pete was a bit nervous about that...luckily, we're still alive to tell our tale!). The market is held once a month in a location which is made known by e-mail the night before the event. Last month it was in a parking lot at Atlantic Station. 

If you're super bored, up at obscene hours with a baby, or otherwise need free entertainment, you can play "Where's Waldo" with this YouTube video---see if you can spot me and/or Pete :)

The cost to get in was $3, and then each food item was priced $1-$5. Sounds cheap, right? We quickly found that the portion sizes were tiny and it was easy to spend tons of money, because there's so much stuff and we wanted to try everything. Even as I watch the video, I see food that I didn't even come across while we were there. Next time, we will pace ourselves---maybe even eat a light dinner before we go so that we're just sampling things and not spending a ton. 

I was feeling adventurous, so we tried the alligator gyro! As I took my first bite, I thought "hmm, this tastes like chicken." Then I continued to chew, and thought "hmm...now I'm getting an almost seafood flavor." Then "Eeew, I'm eating alligator!" And Pete ate the rest :) At least I tried it, right?

These people were so nice---they made one of my favorites, "Ethiopian Masala," and let me take their picture.

View of the city from where we were

Pete and Emery waiting in line for a Venezuelan Arepa (kind of like a Pita with yummy sauce and roasted butternut squash, eggplant, and other yummy veggies).

All in all, we had a great experience and will definitely be going back next month. It was so fun to get our tastebuds out of their comfort zone and experience new foods in a fun atmosphere. If any friends want to come with us in November, sign up and let us know! We learned some important lessons that we can pass on (like the later it gets, the more crowded it is. And don't wait to try the cake pops---the best flavors will be gone).

Halloween with Uncle Tim

Pete's younger brother, Tim, just got home from serving a mission in the San Fernando, California Mission. We were so happy to have him come visit us for just a few days this past weekend! Our ward Fall Festival fell on the same weekend and included a chili cook-off, games, and trunk-or-treat. I was kind of stressed getting costumes ready, as I've never been a big fan of Halloween in general. I ended up figuring out something for me and Emery, and I gave Tim the assignment of coming up with Halloween costumes for Pete and himself.

I was impressed with how well Tim followed through on his assignment. In fact, this is what happens when you put Tim in charge of Halloween costumes:

1) He'll send you the picture below and say "here's an option." You'll laugh, thinking he's joking, and then forget all about it.

Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee
(from Alice in Wonderland...in case there's anyone else out there who, like me, didn't know who these fine characters are)

2) You'll ask him what he decided on and he'll answer your curious inquiries with "it's a surprise."

3) The next thing you know, you'll find yourself looking like this:

(Tim dubbed Pete "dum" and himself "dee")

My favorite reaction to Tim and Pete's costumes was a friend's from church, who asked "So...do these costumes have anything to do with the way you guys are perceived at home?" My laugh was his answer. Pete and Tim have a special bond as brothers and provide lots of laughs together (as well as awkward, questioning looks) in the family setting. Having Tim here has been so fun, as he brings out a unique side of Pete...or maybe I should say he amplifies Pete's natural personality. Either way, that Pete consented to dressing up as Tweedle-dum is concrete evidence of the effect Tim has :)

For Emery's costume, I have to give a big thanks to my mom, who made the hat, picked up the tights, and helped with the onesie that all combined to turn Emery into an adorable little owl. She is very much into flapping her arms around these days, so an owl was a pretty good fit for her. I managed to finish a thrown together, hot glue gun mess of a momma owl costume for myself, so we could match :). I think it turned out pretty good, considering the fact that the main constituents are a pillow case and fleece with absolutely no sewing involved.

 Naturally, I took about a-million-and-one pictures of my first baby on her first Halloween. Here's several:

flapping and flying

Thanks to Tim and our ward party, I enjoyed celebrating Halloween more than ever before. Tim's convinced that Emery isn't his biggest fan, but judging by the picture below, I'd say she's a pretty happy girl to have an uncle like him!

...or maybe she just likes Tweedle-Dee :)

When Grandma Came to Atlanta---Part III

Saturday may have been my favorite day of my mom's visit. We drove north through rolling hills and beautiful green trees to Amicalola Falls State Park. We hiked to the top of the waterfall (more like stair-stepped to the top of the waterfall---600 stairs total) and were rewarded with a gorgeous view of the Appalachian mountains. I bet this view would be even more breathtaking in a couple weeks when the trees are showing their Fall colors.

at the base of the falls

The beginning of the trek back down

smiling at Grandma

After the hike, we continued driving to Ellijay to the Georgia Apple Festival. The festival itself is held at the fairgrounds and is basically galoads of vendors sell crafty things, fried things, and all things apple (caramel apples, apple cider and apple cider donuts, apple dumplings and fritters, etc.). There were also numerous local orchards open for U-pick, selling their apples and apple goodies and providing all kinds of fun events like hayrides and pig races.

Our Ellijay stay wasn't very long, because Pete had something to do at home. We quickly stopped at Hillcrest Orchard and got some apples. We decided to save the hayrides, etc. for next year, when Emery is older and will have more fun. Then we went to the festival itself at the fairgrounds. We definitely hadn't anticipated the traffic/parking situation there. People were parking miles away and being bussed to the fairgrounds---it was pretty crazy. We almost decided to just go home, because our time was running out, but then we miraculously found a parking spot only a short distance from the fairgrounds. By the time we got into the fairgrounds, we only had about 10 minutes before we needed to head for home. We didn't get to see much, but the three of us (my mom, Pete, and I) really wanted to try some of the food, so we decided to divide and conquer and then meet back up to share our southern goodies.

picking up a few apples in the craziness at Hillcrest Orchards

All in all, by the end of out trip to the orchard and festival, we had tasted delicious apple cider, fresh apple cider donuts, caramel apple, and fried green tomatoes (oh, and a corn dog, because out of all the variety  of southern food at the festival, Pete chose to buy a corn dog. This makes me laugh).

The rest of my mom's stay with us was a little more relaxing than the first several days. After church on Sunday, we did a little Emory campus tour and Pete and I took a 2 hour nap. (That small detail is blog-post worthy, because the last time I took a nap was, well...I don't remember. Months ago though). On Monday, my mom, Emery, and I went for a walk at Lullwater Park on campus, and spent time together doing other things I don't remember. What I do remember, and what I enjoyed the most about my mom's visit were the simple things: watching her and Emery play together, chatting and doing crafts together, laughing as we watch dumb shows on netflix, and doing lots of active stuff like walking and hiking. She helped so much with dishes, meals, Emery, etc. I threatened that if she didn't stop, I wasn't going to let her go home!

Nearly everyday since she left, either Pete or I make a comment on how fun it was to have my mom here and how much we miss her! We can't wait until December when we get to visit her and the rest of our families!